Phil Porter has a plan for happiness. It involves hard work and helping others.

"A lot of people want to be leaders," he says. "I don't want to be a leader. I'm a worker."

For the past 12 years, he has been known as Mr. Phil—full-time volunteer and hard worker at Arlington's Venture High School, a voluntary alternative school. Principal Lonny Porter, who shares the same last name but no family relationship, carries the more formal title of Mr. Porter. But Mr. Phil is there every day, too, often more than 40 hours a week, and all for no monetary reward.

"Actually, my work here in a way is selfish," he said. "I get the most out of it. How can you find anything more satisfying than helping others? I know I make a difference. Nothing is as rewarding as that."

Mr. Phil's first career spanned 30 years with Associated Milk Producers. As he approached retirement age, he wondered what to do next.

"I wanted to retire to something, not from something," he said. So, at age 60, he enrolled at UTA to train for a new career in social work.

"Going back to school at that age was challenging," he said. "But I decided I wanted to work with teen-agers. That was my interest. It was people."

He continued working full time while pursuing the master's degree. He retired in October 1989 from Associated Milk Producers and graduated the following June.

Soon he was at the door of Venture High School, volunteering to work with the at-risk students.

"I thought I had a hard time in high school, but we were just poor," he said. "That's not the kind of hard times that many students have now. Their hard times are being neglected, abandoned or abused."

Venture Principal Porter was caught off-guard when Mr. Phil approached him.

"I was especially surprised at the amount of time he wanted to put into the work," Porter said. "He listens and he's willing to go out of his way to help students. I know he has used his pickup truck to help them move."

To express their appreciation, Venture faculty and staff twice nominated Mr. Phil to carry the Olympic torch as it passed through Arlington. He was a torch bearer in 1996 for the Summer Games in Atlanta and again this year for the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

"It was exciting to me because I was participating in the only worldwide peaceful event that I know of," he said.
When it was over, he took the torch to school to share with the students. "Everyone loves Mr. Phil," senior Emily Grimmett said.

Mr. Phil wants company on the happiness trail, so he's writing a book, The Route to Happiness. Even his business cards announce him as Phil Porter—A Happy Man.

"I've spent my life in that pursuit," he said. "I never really wanted to be anything but a happy old man."

-SWN